Do less harm

Shabbat Shalom.

Before meditating today I read this:

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 149, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

19.
Abandon sageness and discard wisdom;
Then the people will benefit a hundredfold.
Abandon humanity and discard righteousness;
Then the people will return to filial piety and deep love.
Abandon skill and discard profit;
Then there will be no thieves or robbers.
However, these three things are ornament and not adequate.
Therefore let people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires.

My thoughts:

Adam Grant’s latest book, Think Again, has a lot of good things to say about not getting too attached to one way of doing things. This passage may be saying something similar. Grant offers us the idea that we should be confidently humble - having faith in our abilities to make a path forward and humble about knowing what that path might be.

Intellect and knowledge, integrity and humanity, skills and abilities, we often think these might be enough. And yet, without the plainness, simplicity, and less self-centered approaches, they may not serve us all that well.

In an interview with Ezra Klein, George Saunders noted that kindness started with “doing less harm”.

Wishing everyone a good weekend and Shabbat Shalom.